Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
The vicious cycle of Escondido's abandoned buildings
City staff blames owners for raising rents
"Some property owners are continuing to increase the cost of rent, causing more businesses to leave downtown."
A glut of empty shopping centers, storefronts, office buildings, and warehouses in downtown Escondido shows no sign of stopping.
Along Grand Avenue, businesses have been leaving at a rate of over 500 percent in the last 12 months, city officials say.
The exodus, ahead of planned construction of the Grand Avenue Vision Project, continues a citywide departure of businesses such as Souplantation and Nordstrom that worsened with the pandemic.
Esconcido plans to levy fee of $1,042 on empty buildings plus an annual monitoring fee of $3,432.
It adds to the city's ongoing budget gap, since all those weedy lots and boarded up buildings will now join the city's cost recovery efforts.
As the second phase of the project to spruce up downtown continues, the city council last week passed an ordinance that would be the first in the county to target owners of vacant commercial properties with a full cost recovery program.
"One of the questions I get asked most is what is the city doing about all these vacant buildings?" said mayor Dane White.
They scatter along Grand Avenue in particular, while East Valley Parkway has for years hosted a derelict gas station the city has been unable to oust.
The abandoned commercial building vacancy ordinance aims to reduce blight and boost foot traffic to businesses, while recouping the costs of code enforcement and police time.
Under the ordinance, 30 days after a property becomes vacant, owners will have to register it with the code compliance department, secure the lot or building, and notify the city of any future plans for permitted uses, as well as any challenges — in which case the city would assist them in finding a tenant.
Buildings with fire sprinkler systems and registered centralized fire and burglar alarms are required to be in working order; monthly reports must be submitted to show active service. Those without the safety features are required to be monitored by onsite patrol.
The proposed registration fee is $1,042, in addition to an annual monitoring fee of $3,432. In total, the upfront fee for vacant building and lot owners will amount to $4,474.
Owners who secure a tenant can be refunded for the upfront monitoring fee only.
City staff has been working on the ordinance since the fall of 2022. "Traditional business attraction programs were not working to incentivize property owners to find tenants," said Jennifer Schoeneck, director of economic development.
"Motivated property owners quickly fill the vacancy when a tenant leaves. However, while vacancy rates continue to increase downtown, some property owners are continuing to increase the cost of rent, causing more businesses to leave downtown and making it more difficult to attract new businesses."
Here's something you might be interested in.
The vicious cycle of Escondido's abandoned buildings
City staff blames owners for raising rents
The vicious cycle of Escondido's abandoned buildings
City staff blames owners for raising rents
"Some property owners are continuing to increase the cost of rent, causing more businesses to leave downtown."
A glut of empty shopping centers, storefronts, office buildings, and warehouses in downtown Escondido shows no sign of stopping.
Along Grand Avenue, businesses have been leaving at a rate of over 500 percent in the last 12 months, city officials say.
The exodus, ahead of planned construction of the Grand Avenue Vision Project, continues a citywide departure of businesses such as Souplantation and Nordstrom that worsened with the pandemic.
Esconcido plans to levy fee of $1,042 on empty buildings plus an annual monitoring fee of $3,432.
It adds to the city's ongoing budget gap, since all those weedy lots and boarded up buildings will now join the city's cost recovery efforts.
As the second phase of the project to spruce up downtown continues, the city council last week passed an ordinance that would be the first in the county to target owners of vacant commercial properties with a full cost recovery program.
"One of the questions I get asked most is what is the city doing about all these vacant buildings?" said mayor Dane White.
They scatter along Grand Avenue in particular, while East Valley Parkway has for years hosted a derelict gas station the city has been unable to oust.
The abandoned commercial building vacancy ordinance aims to reduce blight and boost foot traffic to businesses, while recouping the costs of code enforcement and police time.
Under the ordinance, 30 days after a property becomes vacant, owners will have to register it with the code compliance department, secure the lot or building, and notify the city of any future plans for permitted uses, as well as any challenges — in which case the city would assist them in finding a tenant.
Buildings with fire sprinkler systems and registered centralized fire and burglar alarms are required to be in working order; monthly reports must be submitted to show active service. Those without the safety features are required to be monitored by onsite patrol.
The proposed registration fee is $1,042, in addition to an annual monitoring fee of $3,432. In total, the upfront fee for vacant building and lot owners will amount to $4,474.
Owners who secure a tenant can be refunded for the upfront monitoring fee only.
City staff has been working on the ordinance since the fall of 2022. "Traditional business attraction programs were not working to incentivize property owners to find tenants," said Jennifer Schoeneck, director of economic development.
"Motivated property owners quickly fill the vacancy when a tenant leaves. However, while vacancy rates continue to increase downtown, some property owners are continuing to increase the cost of rent, causing more businesses to leave downtown and making it more difficult to attract new businesses."
Comments